A penny-halfpenny (1 1/2d) buys trouble, one hundred pounds ( £100 ) cannot pay for it.

More Jamaican Proverbs

• Don’t go looking for trouble.
• The chicken, unaware of the danger posed by the hovering hawk, makes merry.
• Sitting down too much wears out one’s trousers.
• Nothing lasts forever.
• Allow one jackass (donkey) to bray at a time.
• A he-goat never wants to scratch his back till he see a stone wall.
• A stranger does not know where the deep water is.
• Every dog has his day, and every cat has his 4 o’clock.
• Things are not always as they seem.
• A dog among doctors, a cockroach among shavers.
• Think before you speak.
• If you are afraid of the eye, you will never eat the head.
• Never judge by outward appearances alone.
• A crybaby (for a stubborn) never gets his rights.
• The alligator lays eggs, but he is not a fowl.
• I came here to drink milk, not to count cows.
• Don’t get involved in things that don’t concern you.
• If you can’t get turkey, you must satisfy with John Crow.
• A woman has a mouth like a fowl.
• Practice what you preach.
• Finger never says “look here,” he says “look yonder”.
• You should not cast off a member of your family who gets into trouble.
• There is trouble in the business, and Anancy takes it home.
• Have-nots covet what the Haves take for granted.
• You tend to stick to people of the same nature.
• When the poor man gets up, he becomes trouble to the world.
• The Parson always christens his own child first.